Comedian Chris McCausland initially declined the offer to participate in Strictly Come Dancing, but confessed that he is “easily persuaded”. The first blind contestant on the BBC One show will compete against a host of celebrities including X Factor winner Shayne Ward, Love Island’s Tasha Ghouri, singer Toyah Willcox, JLS’s JB Gill, Olympic hockey player Sam Quek, Morning Live’s Dr Punam Krishan, and former footballer Paul Merson.
McCausland, who is paired with Dianne Buswell, admitted: “I didn’t want to do Strictly at first, I didn’t, I was asked a few times to do, like last year’s and the Christmas special and I didn’t.”
However, the 47-year-old comedian revealed that he is “very easily persuaded” into things by people flattering him.
Ahead of the first live show tonight (Saturday, September 21), Chris spoke to Radio Times and explained why he was apprehensive about signing up.
He said: “I didn’t think I could do it, because I literally couldn’t see what’s expected of me. And because I don’t watch it, I don’t have an attachment to the format.
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“But I’d rather do something I had no knowledge of than make a show I knew everything about. I’m good at making comedy out of failure, but I’m going to take this seriously.”
He also set the record straight about where he “draws the line”, adding: “Dress me in what you want and paint me whatever colour you want. But I’m not wearing a leotard. That’s where I draw the line!”
Love Island star Tasha Ghouri is the second deaf contestant on the show and will be partnered with Aljaz Skorjanec.
Explaining her approach to dancing, the 26-year-old stated that she has to “feel the vibrations” to understand the rhythm of the music.
She shared: “I can really feel that through my body, especially like in training room. I’ll be saying, put the speaker right up, (as) I really love just to feel it,” reports the Daily Star.
This year’s pairings also include Dr Punam and Gorka Marquez, Willcox and Neil Jones, Ward and Nancy Xu, Gill and Amy Dowden, Quek and Nikita Kuzmin, and Merson and Karen Hauer.
The first live show of Strictly Come Dancing 2024 is set to air at 7pm on BBC One tonight.
